Tools and loops
As in Logic, the Tracks area has two tools: the Left-click Tool, used for plain clicks, and the Ctrl-click Tool (⌘-click on macOS), used while Ctrl is held. Choose them from the two pop-ups in the Tracks area’s bar; the defaults are the Pointer and the Marquee. The pointer takes the shape of the tool under it.
Press T to open the Tool menu at the pointer, then the tool’s letter to make it the Left-click Tool. T again (T T) or Esc picks the Pointer. The letters only pick tools while the menu is open, so they keep their usual key commands otherwise.
| Tool | Letter | Click (or drag) on the tracks |
|---|---|---|
| Pointer | T | Select, move, trim, loop and fade, as described above. A click inside a marquee splits the regions at its edges and selects the parts inside. |
| Pencil | P | Click empty space on a software instrument track to make an empty MIDI region one bar long, at the clicked position (snapped). On a region it moves and trims like the Pointer. |
| Eraser | E | Deletes the region clicked, or the whole selection if the region is selected. |
| Scissors | I | Splits the region at the pointer (snapped), or every selected region if it is selected; a line shows where. Alt+click cuts the region into equal pieces as long as the part before the click. The pieces are selected. |
| Glue | G | Click a selected region to join the selection (as Join). Click or Shift+click other regions to select what to join. |
| Mute | M | Mutes or unmutes the region clicked, or the whole selection if it is selected. |
| Fade | A | On an audio region: drag over its start or end to set the fade-in or fade-out over the dragged length (dragging over an existing fade changes it). Drag across the place where it meets the next region to crossfade the two over the dragged length. Alt+click removes the fade (or crossfade) at the nearer end. |
| Marquee | R | Drag to mark a time range across one or more tracks (snapped). Shift+drag extends the marquee; a click without a drag removes it. |
With the Eraser, Scissors, Glue, Mute and Fade tools, a drag on empty lane space still draws a rubber band. Every tool’s edit is one undo step, and deleting with the Eraser follows the Drag mode, as Delete does.
The marquee is drawn in the theme’s selection colour. While it is there:
- Delete (Backspace) removes the part of the regions inside it, splitting them at its edges; in the Shuffle drag modes the regions close the gap.
- Ctrl+C copies the parts inside, Ctrl+X cuts them, and Ctrl+V pastes at the marquee’s start on its top track (Paste keeps the time from the marquee’s start to the first region). The Tracks area’s Edit menu does the same.
- A click with the Pointer inside it splits the regions at its edges and selects the parts inside; a click anywhere else, or Esc, removes it. Drawing a marquee deselects regions.
As in Logic, a looping region repeats its own content from its end up to its loop end:
- Loop (L, the region menu, or the Inspector’s Loop box) loops the selected regions up to the next region on the track, or for four times the region’s length when nothing follows. Press L again to turn it off.
- Point at the top right corner of the region (the pointer becomes a circular arrow) and drag to set where the loop stops; dragging back to the region’s end removes the loop.
- Repetitions are drawn lighter, with a notch at each pass. Click a repetition to select the region and drag it to move the region (the loop moves along). Trimming changes what repeats and keeps the loop end.
- The fade-in shapes the start of the region and the fade-out the end of the loop. Loop repetitions play beneath other regions on the track, so a region over a loop always wins.
- Convert Loops to Real Copies turns the repetitions into regions. Split, Join, Repeat and Paste work on the whole looped length; splitting a loop converts it first.